Flat Iron Tips: Slow Down To Speed Up

One of the most common mistakes while using a flat iron to straighten the hair, is passing over the same section... over and over and over again. We have this thought that the faster and more times we flat iron, the better. This is is wrong, so very wrong! It's time to SLOW THINGS DOWN! Thermal tools are hot, so first things first is to grab that trusty heat protectant.

Sam Villa, Education Artistic Director for Redken 5th Avenue and Founding Partner of the Sam Villa® brand, suggests focusing on the following factors when using flat irons:

Heat  Stick to medium or color treated temperatures. If freshly colored hair is styled on hot heat, the next shampoo will wash the color right down the drain.

Pass  Once is enough. Think about when you iron a shirt, quickly going over the same wrinkle over and over again doesn’t remove the wrinkle, but a slow pass with concentrated heat will. It’s the same with hair, one pass does the trick.

Compression  Judge accordingly. Fine hair needs less compression and a quicker pass and curly hair needs more compression with a slower pass. It all comes down to the amount of pressure you put on the handle. The further away your hands are from the plate, the less compression and the closer to the plate, the more compression.

The Sam Villa SLEEKR® Flat Iron has a special setting for color treated hair to ensure color preservation. Temperatures are represented by LEDS  Green (low) 375°F for all hair types, Amber (medium) 392°F forcolor treated hair and Red (high) 410°F for resistant and virgin hair types. They also have extra long plates to give more compression options.

Watch the video above to see just how Sam uses this technique and also how to avoid creases when straightening the hair!

Have questions? We would love to hear form you, just leave your comments below!